Freezing tray



H. D. GEYER FREEZING TRAY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec.

INVENTOR HEIVE D. 5': er Y M /Jaw i% @ATTQRNEYS June 14, 1938. I H. D. .GEYER; 2,120,701

FREEZING TRAY I Filed Dec. 17, 1937 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR HBIVE/IH Gay/er wW/I MMMW A 'ATTORNEYS Patented June 14, 1938 v This invention relates to freezing trays'such as are adapted for use in household refrigerators.

' An object of this invention is to provide a very simple and efficient force-multiplying means for breaking the container p face upon which it rests during'free which it ordinarily becomesbonded by a -film parts thruoutthe several views. anloose from'the sur- Various ice-pan lifting devices have been heretofore devised, however such prior devices have been usually mounted upon the container pan itself and with a consequent complicated structure and expense in making the pan. Hence an object-of this invention is to provide an ice-pan lifting device which is mounted upon a removable grldstructure rather than upon the pan structure, and is thus readily entirely separated from the pan at will and will require no complications No attachment brackets or'lugs arerequired on the pan, hence the pan may be a simple one-piece drawn metal pan having a simple outward flange at the end thereof to receive the lifting force of the lifting device.

Another advantage of the lifting device of this invention results from the fact that it is a unitary part of the grid rather than of the pan, and hence may be sold with most any improved form of grid as an accessory for use with various well-. known forms of pan now on the market. In other words, an improved type of grid with the lifting device of this invention mounted thereon may be bought by a consumer and used with the pan he may already have, thus saving considerable exin the pan structure;

antages of the present Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fig. 1, showing the lifting device in its normal position during freez- Fig. 3 is an end view of Fig; 2.

Fig. 4 is a side view of the tray, s front end of the tray lifted from its supporting surface by actuation of the lifting device of this Fig. 5 illustrates how the lifting device may be i UNITED STATES PATENT ,o z gg Y Harvey D. Geyer, Dayton, Ohio, asslg nor. to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a cor- I poration of Delaware Application December 17, 1931, Serial No. 180,273

6Claims.- (cite-108.5)

' used as a handle to pull the tray from its freezing compartment in the refrigerator.

' $imilar'freference characters refer to similar For the purposes of illustration, the drawings 5 disclose a drawn metal pan l0 and a removable integral flexible rubber grid ll having acentral longitudinal partition i 2 andtransverse partitions l3. The central partition I! has an integral flexible rubber projection iii of any desired 10 width and which projects somewhat beyond the end of the metal pan 10. The pan-lifting member I6 is mounted upon this flexible projection i5. and depends therefrom outside of pan iii.

This lifting member I6 is illustrated as formed from a continuous quite rigid round metal wire, preferably non-corrosive or platedsteel wire. Its upper horizontal bar 'Il extends thru an aperture in the rubber projection i5 and is thus hingedly mounted thereupon. 1 The wire'is'bent (as more clearly shown in Fig. 3) to form two double legs i8 and i9. The upper ends of the two legs iii are turned toward and abut each other at 20 (Fig. 3). The wire may be assembled to projection i5 by being only partially formed prior to threading it thru the hole in the flexible rubber member I5 which is sufficiently elastic to pass around the various turns in the wire. The length of the two legs i9 is greater than the vertical height of pan I0 fromthe under side of flange 14 thereof to the pan-supporting surface 2|. Hence when the upper ends 20 of legs l9 abut the under side of flange it (as shown in Fig. 2) the legs l9 will be inclined from the vertical and their lower rounded ends 22 will rest loosely upon the pan-supporting surface 2!. When'legs l9 are in this position of Fig. 2 the legs i8 are preferably substantially vertical.

Now when legs iii are pressed inwardly by hand as shown by arrow A in Fig. 4, the rounded ends 40 of the legs will'slide upon surface 2| and move legs l9 to a more nearly .vertical position and "thereby cause a greatly multiplied force'to lift pan ill from its supporting surface 2|. Thus a quite small force A will be sufficient to break 4 the frozen bond between the pan i0 and its supporting surface 2i. When legs 18 and i9 are moved to the position shown in Fig. 4 the pivot bar I! must move downward slightly to accommodate this movement of'legs i8 and l9.- This slight down movement of bar H is readily perinitted by the downward flexure of the rubber projection l5, as shown in Fig. 4. Obviously a swinging or flexing'metal link can be readily substituted for the flexible projection IS in any desired embodiment of the pan-lifter invention, that is, in any embodiment where a metal grid is used rather than a flexible rubber grid. In other words, this pan-lifter device is obviously readily applicable to freezing grids made of metal as well as of rubber, since it is necessary only that the pivot support of the upper end of legs l8 be permitted to move down slightly during the pan-lifting operation illustrated in Fig. 4.

After pan I is loosened from its support as above described, the lifting member l6. may be used bodily as a handle with which to pull the entire tray and contents from its freezing compartment. When so doing the lifter member l6 may be swung to the position shown in Fig. 5, thus forming a very convenient hand grasp.

It is obvious that many variations may be made from the above-described form of lifter member I 6 without departing from the teachings of this invention. For instance, lifter l6 may be a sheet metal stamping, or a cast metal part, and. need not have distinct and separate legs such as legs l8 and I9; only one inclined strut (which is equivalent to leg I9) is necessary provided it be supported in a manner equivalent to that described above, or in such manner as to function as above described.

Grid II has been shown with a flexible projection I! at its opposite end, which is similar to projection I to which lifter member I6 is attached. Obviously a lifter member l6 could be applied to both ends of the grid if so desired, in order to avoid all possibility of inadvertently putting the ice tray into its freezing compartment backwards.

While the embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form or forms, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. In a freezing tray, in combination, a. container pan, a grid within said pen, and a depending strut member attached to said grid and 10- cated outside of said pan, said strut member having one portion thereof adapted to engage the support upon which the pan rests and another portion thereof adapted to engage the pan for loosening said pan from its frozen bond to the support.

2. In a freezing tray, in combination, a container pan, a grid within said pan, and a. depending strut member mounted upon said grid and located outside of said pan, said strut member having a vertically inclined portion engageable with the pan and the pan-supporting surface and movable to a more upright position to lift said pan from its supporting surface.

3. In a freezing tray, in combination, a container pan, a grid within said pan, and a depending strut member movably mounted upon said grid and depending outside of said pan, said member being engageable with the pan and the pan-supporting surface, and being actuatable to lift said pan from its supporting surface.

4. In a freezing tray; in combination, a container pan, a grid within said pan, a movable member attached to said grid and projecting beyond the end of said pan, and a tray-lifting member mounted upon a portion of said movable member and arranged to react upon the pansupporting surface and operable to force said pan upwardly from its supporting surface.

5. In a freezing tray, in combination, a container pan, a grid within said pan, a tray-lifting member movably mounted upon said grid and depending outside of said pan, said tray-lifting member being operable to react upon the pansupporting surface to force said pan upwardly from its supporting surface.

6. In a freezing tray, in combination, a container pan, a grid within said pan, a tray-lifting member attached to said grid and depending therefrom outside of said pan, said member being swingable by manual force to react upon the pansupporting surface and to force the tray and its contents upwardly from its supporting surface.

HARVEY D. GEYER. 

